The Brave & The Bold
Star Trek: Books I and II
By Keith R A DeCandido

     Malkus The Mighty, tyrant ruler of the vast Zalkat Union, ordered his most gifted scientist to design four boxes that would enable him to control his subjects. Ninety thousand years later, Captain Archer and the crew of the first Enterprise find one of them.

      This is the first novel to bring together all five incarnations of Star Trek. Following the brief introduction, all four boxes are found in turn by characters in each of the four later series. Though a seemingly contrived idea, it seems to work, and readers can now find out about Chakotay and Tuvok's involvement with the Maquis, how Captain Kirk had to find the cure for a planet-wide plague, The DS9's tussle with both agitated Cardassians and a particular Bajoran terrorist. The star of this show is undeniably the final tale (you can almost hear the roll of drums), set during Picard's time and introducing the proud Klingon warship, the IKS Gorkon and Captain Klag, who is going to be appearing in a new set of novels. If you like Klingons (and what Star Trek fan doesn't?) then this notion ought to appeal.

      This is a brisk quartet of stories which seem to get progressively better. From the rather pedestrian start with Kirk, through the pair of stories about the Maquis, to the rousing finale with Picard and the Klingons, there is plenty going on to entertain. Nothing groundbreaking perhaps, but a good and reasonably inventive tale which certainly has got me anticipating any future books about Klag (There are even several pages of specifications for the IKS Gorkon!)